


These Foolish Games

by Eyanril



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Also if you squint, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Breathplay, Canto Bight, Dom/sub Undertones, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Time, GRSecretSpy, Gambling, Gingerrose - Freeform, Glove Kink, If You Squint - Freeform, Mildly Dubious Consent, Penis In Vagina Sex, Spy Armitage Hux, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, working together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28463025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyanril/pseuds/Eyanril
Summary: After several successful operations conducted together, tensions between reluctant handler Rose Tico and First Order General-turned-spy Armitage Hux come to a head during a mission on Cantonica.Canto Bight really is a city of sin.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 21
Kudos: 72
Collections: Gingerose Holiday Exchange 2020: Secret Spy





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Esmethewitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esmethewitch/gifts).



> For Esmethewitch - I hope you enjoy! ❤
> 
> Canonverse is definitely not my strong suit, but I tried really hard to keep things compliant. 
> 
> Huge, HUGE thanks to phelfromgrace who beta'd, and who probably will never want to beta another fic of mine ever again LOL XD

When Rose Tico stepped off the shuttle onto the paved courtyard of the Canto Casino and Racetrack, she had a quick flash of deja vu. The people, of all different shapes, sizes and species, mingling together under the sparkling lights. The sounds of clanking credit games and boisterous cheers from within the building itself, drifting outside on the cool evening air. 

This time, though, she wasn’t parked illegally on a public beach, searching for a master codebreaker, not caring that she stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of wealth and glamour. She had been on a desperate mission then, she and Finn, and she hadn’t done much more than turn up her nose at the place before they were off again, having accomplished their goal, albeit in a quite nonlinear and unconventional manner. 

Rose shivered, wishing she’d had the foresight to secure a shawl before she’d agreed to her current wardrobe. This time, on this mission, she was here to follow the rules. To observe and gather information. To camouflage herself. To pretend she belonged. And to do that, she’d had to step several meters outside of her comfort zone and into _…_

 _This thing looks ridiculous on me,_ she thought, when she caught a glimpse of herself in the shiny metal hull of the shuttle as it departed. 

The dress, all six slinky meters of crimson synthsilk, had been Kaydel’s idea.

“Last time you were in Canto Bight, you didn’t blend in,” the blonde had said, eyeing Rose’s plain khaki slacks and shirt with disdain, as if she weren’t wearing the exact same thing herself. Then she had gestured to the dress where it lay nestled in the crate, a vibrant blot of color amid all the bland military browns and greys of the base and the deep greens of the jungle. “Problem solved.”

Secretly, she’d been excited to wear it. To look like a proper woman for once, and not a sexless soldier in a uniform. The elegant gown, with its draped neckline, curve-hugging silhouette and train that trailed along the floor behind her, presented a whole new set of problems, however.

Like, for example, walking without tripping and falling flat on her face.

The heels — also Kaydel’s suggestion — didn’t help matters, either. Rose was completely unused to moving around on anything higher than the small wedge of her work boots, looked like a wobbly falthier foal just testing its legs for the first time. Comical, sure, but not exactly inconspicuous. 

Cursing beneath her breath, she kept the fake smile plastered on her face. She played with the Haysian smelt medallion that hung on a cord around her neck and cast around for her contact.

 _Of course, the_ one _kriffing time he’s late, I’m out here making a fool of myself._

 _He_ had been the one to propose this operation, meeting on this stupid planet because he had some stupid lead about an arms deal about to go down between the war profiteers who frequented the casino. 

_He_ had been the one to insist they disguise themselves — _if you’re capable of shucking that dreadful jumpsuit, he’d sneered —_ like the other casino patrons. _He’d_ been the one to suggest the date and the time of their rendezvous.

And now she was stuck here, searching for his stupid face in the crowd, cold and alone. 

Suddenly a bell chimed, signaling an event either enticing or important, apparently, because the throng began streaming towards the casino entrance. So Rose had to move too, or risk being trampled by the patrons behind her. She winced as she stepped on the hem of the dress for the fourth time and nearly catapulted into the people in front of her, striking out with her hands in both directions for some purchase. 

And her right hand did connect, with something solid and warm, but not before her ankle on the same side bent sideways at an unfortunate — and painful — angle.

“Kriff!” she snarled, seizing the gaberwool of a greatcoat in her desperation to keep from toppling over completely. 

A pair of long-fingered hands, covered in sleek black leather, clasped her upper arms.

“Stars, Major. Where did you learn how to walk?”

General Armitage Hux stood before her in all his uptight militant glory, red hair slicked back into submission, pale skin in stark contrast to the charcoal grey of his uniform. The First Order insignia had been removed from this particular set of clothes, but otherwise his outfit remained unchanged from any of the other missions they’d conducted as a team. _Great disguise._

“Commander,” Rose hissed through her teeth, glaring up at him. “It’s Commander now.” It was a title she didn’t believe she deserved, or even wanted, but to him, rank equaled respect. Not that he afforded her much.

Hux harrumphed, the corner of his mouth twitching, his green eyes glinting with amusement. “Is it, now? I’d forgotten…” He was lying, of course — he never forgot anything, from what Rose had seen.

But Rose could give as good as she got. “You’re _late_ , General. Are you slipping in your old age?”

Hux licked his lips, and Rose found herself following the path of his tongue. _Had that one hit home?_ But no — he breezed on as if he hadn’t heard her. “I assure you I was here at the correct time. In fact, I’ve been standing over there for ten minutes.” He pointed helpfully over his shoulder to the edge of the courtyard, where the crowd had thinned. “I merely didn’t recognize you.” His gaze traveled from the tip of her head to the hem of her dress. “You clean up adequately, for a Resistance rat.” 

His grip on her arms tightened as he looked smugly down at her, and Rose wondered for the thousandth time why Leia had assigned her to be his partner, of everyone in the Resistance who could have done the job. After all, this was the man who was responsible — even indirectly — for the pillaging of her home planet and the death of her sister. But her individual grievances didn’t much matter in the grand scheme of things — Rose had learned that lesson quickly. The First Order had hurt _all_ of them.

Still, to find out that he was the spy who had been passing over intel for months had been quite the shock. Even more surprising was that he had come to _them_ , when his intense hatred of the Resistance had seemed like a living, breathing thing. It turned out there was someone he hated even more than the disordered rebellion.

 _I don’t need to win,_ he’d told her, during their first mission — obtaining intel from a shady contact on Coruscant. _I just need Kylo Ren to lose._

It made sense, Rose admitted. There was no one more chaotic in the galaxy, from what she understood from awkward conversations with Rey and Leia, in which the other two women were clearly withholding information. But for Armitage Hux to undermine his entire ideology to work with the enemy…

And he could be nothing but an enemy, Rose had assumed after that first mission. He clearly felt the same, slinging slurs at her whenever he got the chance, never failing to remind her she was beneath him in every way. Rose thought that would have been the end of it. 

Except they’d been thrown together again and again, and Rose had begun to feel her disgust with him morphing into something less...hostile...every time.

Until he opened his karking mouth, anyways, which he did then, raising his eyebrows. “As much as I enjoy watching the gears in that clever little brain turn, Commander, perhaps we should move out of the way.”

The foot traffic had parted around them in the disorder of her near fall, but now the casino patrons were becoming impatient. A Heptooinian bumped hard into Rose’s shoulder, and even Hux’s hold wasn’t enough to keep her upright. She collapsed into a heap of synthsilk onto the flagstone, her hands going instantly to her throbbing ankle.

 _Sprained, maybe._ She’d always been a bit clumsy _(overconfident, with a healthy dose of recklessness,_ Paige would have said), and this was just the latest in a long string of minor injuries.

“Hey!” she shouted after the Heptooinian, who remained oblivious. “Watch where you’re going, huh? Kriffing bastard, you son-of-a—”

The leather of Hux’s glove clamped over her face, stifling her words. He pulled it away quickly enough, though, unwilling to let his fingers linger too close to her mouth and her straight, strong teeth.

He still hadn’t forgotten the bite, then. _Good._ She liked to remind him whenever she had a chance that she’d dared to do that much, at least.

“You possess quite a temper, don’t you, Commander?” Sighing melodramatically, he crouched down beside her. “Well, this is off to a _wonderful_ start.” His fingers skimmed feather-light over her ankle, assessing the damage, the leather whispering against her stocking-clad skin. “What kind of commanding officer sends their operative into active duty so ill-equipped? And so scantily dressed?”

His eyes lingered on her body, from the draped fabric at her bust to where it pooled in her lap.

“I’m not ill-equipped,” she rankled. “When we’re inside I’ll look like every other floozy trouncing around the casino floor. Which, I’ll remind you, was the _point_.”

He ignored her, his hand traveling higher on her calf, pressing against her muscle carefully, but Rose jerked her leg away, sending another shooting pain through her ankle. A touch here and there to maintain their cover Rose could tolerate, but the gentle care he was taking of the injury irritated her. “It’s fine. I’ll walk it off.”

Clucking his tongue, Hux unclasped the strap and slid the offending stiletto off her foot before she could protest. “Not in these you won’t.” 

He raised his hand in the air, a gesture Rose associated with schoolchildren, but it produced the desired effect. A concierge rushed over immediately, kneeled beside them, her eyes wide.

“Sir? May I assist you?”

“My companion has injured her ankle trying to walk in this unfortunate excuse for footwear. She requires medical attention and a _proper_ pair of shoes.”

“Right away, sir. Please bring her inside and go down the hall to the left, and we’ll have your wife patched up in no time.” The attendant scurried off, and before Rose realized what was happening, Hux was wrapping his arms around her and lifting.

She squealed, squirming in his unexpected embrace. “Put me down! I’m too heavy.”

He tutted. “Nonsense, _wife._ You’re just a slip of a thing.” And it seemed he wasn’t lying — he carefully picked his way through the crowd, maneuvering around bodies, angling through the gaps so that her ankle was protected, giving no indication that he was having difficulty carrying her.

“Do _not_ call me that. And I can walk,” she insisted, but something in his expression made her stop fidgeting. There were eyes on them, from every direction — curious, and perhaps a tad judgemental. 

“No need to make a scene, darling,” he replied, sotto voce. “We’re here to blend in, remember?” 

Rose crossed her arms. “Maybe I should, then. _Make a scene._ It’s exactly what these rich assholes would do, I’d bet. Scream and shout, blame the poor people who paved the courtyard for the uneven ground.”

Another twitchy half-grin. He was perfectly capable of smiling, she’d observed, but he tended to dole them out sparingly. Not that she cared if he smiled.

“On any other night, I’d pay to see you pitch a fit, Commander,” he whispered. “But we’re here to do a job, yes? So let’s try and keep a low profile. I thought little rats were good at keeping to the sidelines.”

Seething, Rose spat out: “Of course, _husband._ ” 

But he didn’t react the way she wanted him to. He didn’t react at all. Just kept walking.

She tensed as they passed through a security checkpoint at the entrance to the casino proper, Hux halting for the scanners to do their quick assessment, red beams traveling over their bodies. A sharp spike of panic suddenly shot through her.

_What if they can identify us? What if there’s an outstanding warrant for my arrest since my last ill-fated trip to this planet? What if—_

But the scanners picked up nothing worth note, evidently, because the security officer gave Hux a curt nod, and then he was through the checkpoint and striding to the left, to where the attendant was flagging them down.

Rose opened her mouth to argue once more that she could walk, now that they were out of the fast-moving crowd, but changed her mind. At least, cradled in his arms, she was warm.

**

The infirmary nurse, a towering Dor Namethian, had taken care of Rose’s ankle with a bacta-numb shot — the pain dulled to a tolerable ache — and a wrap for support. _Not sprained,_ it said in its alien speech, _just twisted,_ and for that Rose was thankful. A pair of new knee-high boots, proffered with a solemn face by the concierge, would help with her balance. They were leather, like his gloves, and fit surprisingly well considering they had been pulled off a clothing store shelf somewhere in the shopping concourse. 

“Who’s paying for these?” she whispered, as Hux played the doting spouse and hovered while the nurse finished securing the bandage.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” he replied. “Just concentrate on walking in a somewhat competent manner. Can you do that, _my dear_? Or shall I carry you everywhere?”

She thought of a few choice insults she’d have liked to level at him, but with the nurse present she felt it best to keep them to herself.

Still, Rose was grateful when he offered his arm to lean on as she hobbled out of the infirmary, keeping her weight mostly off her right leg. 

“So what exactly are we looking for?” He’d provided almost no details beyond a vague sketch of the situation, which wasn’t atypical of him. Still, Rose would have preferred to begin with a little more information, but Hux apparently was not in a giving mood. 

“I’ll know it when I see it. Let’s take a turn around the floor...shall we?”

“As if I have a choice,” Rose muttered.

To her surprise, he turned to look down at her — _really_ look at her — and there may have been something akin to concern in his eyes, but it was quickly doused with more of his particular brand of sarcasm.

“I could deposit you in the lounge. Let you prop that ankle up and get yourself drunk on Cantonican cactus liqueur. It wouldn’t take much, I’d wager, as tiny as you are. Would that be—”

“No. I’m with you.” Leia wouldn’t forgive her if she abandoned the mission because of her lack of coordination. “I’m fine, really.”

He nodded. Then, with a quick jut of his chin, drew her attention to the other side of the floor. “Do you see that fellow, next to the Hazard Toss table?”

Her eyes locked onto an Ongidae standing stiffly, his burly arms crossed over his chest, eyeballing a pair of humanoid casino patrons at the table as the man shook and rolled the dice. “Yes.”

“Security, I believe. Keep an eye on him. I presume he’ll lead us where we need to go.”

“On it.” 

They made their way slowly around the room, stopping here and there to watch the gamblers win or lose. A waiter handed them flutes of emerald wine, and she started to sip. Before Rose knew it, the glass was almost empty, and she could feel the warmth of mild intoxication deep in her belly, and the slight sluggishness of her thoughts. That made it easier to pretend she was enjoying herself. Hux, too, she noticed. He even put a few cantocoins in a credit game, and Rose clapped obnoxiously, only half feigning excitement, when it came up three millaflowers in a row, spitting a few extra coins out in the process.

As Hux collected his winnings from the tray, he murmured. “Has our friend moved?”

“Not that I can tell...wait. Yes.” The Ongidae was beckoning to someone, and turned to head deeper into the casino.

“Good. Let’s follow.”

Carefully, arm in arm, they picked their way through the felted tables and the hungry-eyed people, after the security officer. The man he was leading was wearing a suit, carried a case, and didn’t seem overly interested in the gambling aspect of the casino. The Ongidae gestured toward a sliding door, next to which was a sign, proclaiming in tall capital letters, _PRIVATE. STAFF ONLY._ They watched the man disappear through it, and waited for the security officer to move on. 

He didn’t, instead taking up the pose from earlier: arms crossed, scowling at the revelers.

“If I’m not mistaken, the hotel is in that direction. There are probably conference rooms somewhere beneath, along this passageway. Come.” Hux drew her towards the door. “Pretend to be tipsy, Commander.”

So Rose did, stumbling a little with each step. He didn’t need to know it wasn’t entirely an act. 

“Excuse us,” Hux simpered, clutching at Rose as she swayed to a stop. “My wife’s had a bit too much. Is there a shortcut back to the hotel? Through here?”

“Can’t you read, ginger?” the Ongidae snapped, gesturing to the sign. “You can walk through the concourse like everyone else.”

“Please, sir?” Rose asked breathily. “We won’t tell if you won’t.” She winked. “I’m just _so_ tired. It’ll take us _ages_ to go around.”

It didn’t seem like the security officer had a soft spot for intoxicated housewives. He merely jabbed a finger at the sign again and refused to acknowledge them further.

Hux steered her back the way they had come. “Be ready to move,” he said. Rose steeled herself, and waited. His intentions became clear when he reached out a long leg across the aisle, just as a casino employee with a full tray of cantocoins strode by.

The employee tripped on Hux’s leg, sending the chits flying in all directions. A collective gasp went through the crowd, and then chaos erupted as the patrons began to scramble for the loose coins.

“Hurry,” Hux hissed in her ear, and he dragged her towards the back, passing the Ongidae, who had already forgotten them, it seemed, in his rush to protect the casino’s property. 

No one even glanced in their direction as they maneuvered through the forbidden door and took off down the corridor. The murmur of many voices, though, made them slow to a crawl. There was one opening on the left, but otherwise the corridor went straight on, no other branches.

Rose could see a group of people congregated in the hallway further down. “In here,” she said, nudging him, before the others could spot them. Rose hobbled in, and wasn’t surprised to see it was exactly what he had guessed: a conference room, with a massive table and at least two dozen chairs.

“Do you think they’re meeting in here?” she asked, keeping her voice low. There was a data port, and a holoscreen on one wall. Something that could be hacked, maybe. And there was a blaster sitting, unattended, on the table.

“Likely,” he agreed. He hesitated, then pocketed the blaster. When he saw her pursed lips, Hux shrugged. “If we have to fight our way out of here, I’d rather have it than not.”

“I doubt it’ll come to that,” Rose said, glancing around. It was then she noticed another door, on the far wall, so old-fashioned and out of place that it was on hinges instead of a pneumatic slider.

_Closet?_

She peered inside and confirmed her suspicions. “We could hide,” she said. There were stacks of small crates in each corner, and it might be a tight fit, but she was small enough to make up the difference for his extra mass. “If we can keep quiet enough…they’ll never even know we’re here.”

He cocked a brow, skeptical. “It shouldn’t be a problem for me. You on the other hand…”

Rose bristled, crossing her arms. “You wanna bet? I’ll bet you I won’t utter a single word for the next hour...starting now.”

“Please,” he scoffed. “You wouldn’t last five seconds. You—”

The voices, moving closer, killed the banter. 

Before she could do more than take a stuttering step towards the closet, Hux was pulling her into the confined space, wrapping an arm around her waist and tucking her back to his abdomen so that they both faced the door, which he swung shut as he maneuvered them into place. He left it open a crack, though, so that a sliver of the room was visible, focused on the massive table at the center.

One by one the owners of the voices filed in, single and in pairs, until the air was full of their chatter. 

The noise they generated was loud enough that Hux apparently thought it was safe to speak. 

“You’re usually all talk, Commander. Let’s see if you can keep that pretty little mouth shut, hmm?”

He was trying to get a rise out of her, but it wasn’t working, because it wasn’t the insult that Rose’s brain latched onto. 

It was the word _pretty_. For the second time, no less.

She opened her lips to ask just what he was getting at, but he clucked with disapproval and whispered in her ear.

“Going to lose that wager already, Commander?”

Grinding her teeth together in frustration, she kept her silence.

“Good girl,” he murmured, and Rose really didn’t like his tone. Or the feel of him pressed against her back, solid and warm and _safe_ , somehow. Or the way he was running his free hand, encased in supple leather, up her arm. 

She squirmed against his hold, trying to push into what little empty space remained in the closet, away from him, but her right foot knocked into a crate, shoving it in turn into the door. It drifted open a few more centimeters, letting out an almost imperceptible _creak._

They froze. Rose waited, her breath caught in her throat, her eyes darting in panic from person to person as they milled around the conference room.

Not one turned their head towards the closet. 

Hux’s hand — the one that had lately been caressing her arm — closed around her neck. His grip wasn’t tight enough to do any damage, or prevent her from taking in air, but it posed a threat all the same. 

“Hold still, Rose,” he hissed. “Are you actively _trying_ to get us killed?”

She jabbed her elbow into his ribs, smirking when he grunted in pain. Hurt her, too, he was so bony beneath that crisp dress uniform. _Worth it though._

But it didn’t deter him for long. “Hmm. So you want to fight dirty, do you, little rebel?” His voice was a purr in her ear, like some great self-satisfied beast, despite the blow she had just dealt him. “You underestimate my desire to win.”

The arm that was around her waist loosened. Fingers plucked at the slippery fabric of the dress’s skirt, pulling it upward.

 _What the kriff do you think you’re doing?_ She risked moving again, lifting her foot and placing it on one of the other crates, jammed firmly into the corner, to use as leverage. 

But he was quicker, bringing her to a stop with his thumb laid heavily alongside her larynx.

The pressure made her swallow and let out a little cough, which was disguised, _thank the stars_ , by the constituents pulling out their chairs, metal gliding over carpet, and taking their seats. 

Rose tried to ignore his hands on her, to listen to the murmur of the conversation outside the closet. They were here to gather intel, and he had turned it into some ridiculous game...a game that she was _definitely_ going to lose if he was going to do what she _thought_ he was going to do. 

Hux continued the gathering motion against her hip, and the hem of the dress crept up her calf. Past her knee. Slid along her stockinged thigh until it hit bare skin. His leather-clad fingers, too, brushed against her, and Rose’s focus was torn back to his touch. She bucked in his embrace, a snarl in her throat. Her thighs were clasped together tight, impenetrable. Her fingernails dug into the fabric of his jacket, but the weave was too tight, the material too thick, for her to leave marks.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about this,” he was saying, even as he bunched the fabric up further, around her waist, granting him access to what was beneath. His hold around her throat became a caress. “Because _I_ have. In fact, I’ve been able to think of little else since...well, since I saw you in this dress. I thought about how it would look lying upon the floor, with you naked and willing in my bed. Little rebel _schutta_.” The Twi’lek word for _slut_ rolled off his tongue, but there was no hostility behind it, only a twisted sort of affection. “This scenario is a poor substitute, but it will have to do if I’m going to win our wager.”

He was walking a fine line, between seduction and obvious teasing. Rose chose to believe it was the latter, because the idea that Armitage Hux wanted to fuck her (or fuck anything, really) was too ridiculous to fathom.

Except he was stroking her now, through the lace of her underthings, and it was becoming difficult to rationalize that his motions were only for show. The way his eyes had lingered on her after her collapse outside the casino…

 _No,_ Rose thought. But there was a part of her, deep in the back of her brain, that whispered _Yes._

“Tell me to stop, Rose,” he offered. Completely reasonable, and willing to comply should she give up. “It’s all right, darling. No one will hear you if you concede. Just say the words.” 

Rose debated her options, and came up on the side of perseverance. _Kark it_ , she thought. _Let him peel you open like the flower you are, petal by petal, if he dares. You both know he’s full of druk. He doesn’t have the balls._

Unclenching her thighs, she relaxed into his embrace. Tipped her head back to rest on his shoulder. Shut her eyes. 

As expected, his movements ceased.

“Don’t toy with me, Commander. Give up.” 

She rolled her hips forward, against his palm, and earned a grunt of what she assumed was frustration.

“Don’t—”

She cut him off with the same motion, more insistent this time. His fingers hooked underneath the flimsy band of her underwear, and he released her neck to tease at her left breast with the other hand, pinching at the nipple.

 _Moon and stars_ but she could already feel the arousal trickling down her inner walls, could feel the pulse deep in her pelvis as steady as the beat of her heart.

This was _wrong,_ and she knew that. It was wrong to want someone like him — manipulator, murderer, _enemy_ — to touch her like this. And yet... 

_Do it._ She telegraphed the challenge with every fiber of her being. _Stop being a coward and take what you want, General Hux._

He did.

One long digit probed between her folds, then another. In spite of the leather between them, she could feel his heat as keenly as if his hand were bare. 

Slowly, leisurely, he slipped his fingers further, down and around, until he had exhausted his reach. He was leaning into her now, his face against her face, his nose flattened against her temple as he breathed, hot, in her ear.

“You’re a stubborn little thing, aren’t you? So stubborn and so—” Crooking upwards at last, his index finger slipped fully inside her, as deep as it could go, with an unflattering _squelch._ “— _wet_.” 

Rose shook, her knees wobbling, but he kept her upright, letting go of her breast and guiding her hand, carefully, to the door frame to aid her balance. Began to move his finger inside her, the leather dragging through her channel and striking every nerve along its route. In...out...in...out. He added another, stretching her opening, and she had to bite her lip — hard — to keep from groaning. For a moment she lost all sense of her surroundings — all that mattered was the way he was touching her.

He was _good_ at it. Which baffled her even more, considering she could never picture him being with anyone, let along a willing female partner. He was _so_ good and she was _so, so_ bad, spasming with every thrust, enjoying how he felt inside. Guilt threatened to overwhelm her. 

Suddenly a voice, louder than the others, sounded from nearby.

“One moment sir, I think there’s some stored in here. Let me check—”

A servant swung the closet door open, wide enough that, had any of those assembled been looking, they would have caught the sight of her, trying not to make a sound, and Hux, fingers-deep in her pussy, as plain as day. 

Rose only glimpsed the assistant’s wide eyed shock for a moment before the door swung shut again, this time all the way. She could hear the nervously muttered: “Sorry sir, they must have moved the spares. I’ll—I’ll go look in the next room.” But the rest of the conversation was muffled, and their view was now cut off.

The shut door did, however, allow Rose to give a little whimper when Hux started moving anew, bringing his other hand down to rub at her clit. She shuddered in his embrace and he chuckled, pleased.

“You love this—” and when she shook her head violently, still in denial, he growled, “—No, no, you do. And you’re going to come for me, Rose...very soon, I think, if the way you’re clenching around my fingers is any indication. Let’s see if you can stay quiet then.”

He had asked her before if she was trying to get them killed, and now she wanted to ask him the same, making her come undone like this where two dozen of the richest citizens of the galaxy could hear her. 

She was gripping the door frame so hard her knuckles were white, and the pressure inside her was building to an unbearable point. She tried to think about the men outside the closet, about their low, conspiratorial voices, their shady business dealings. She tried to think about what would happen if they did hear her inevitable orgasm — would they tear open the door and shoot them point blank, two dead with a single blaster bolt through their chests? Would they rip them apart, torture them separately until one or both of them broke? It would be her that caved, Rose knew. He was like beskar — unbreakable, or, at least, uneasily damaged. 

But perhaps she was underestimating herself. This was torture, after a fashion, even as pleasurable as it was. 

“You are exquisite,” he breathed, lips on her ear. “You’re trying so hard to fight it, aren’t you?” 

It was torture — _sweet_ torture — and if she let go, he would finally stop.

Something deep inside of her loosened, then, like a breaking wave, and she was coming— _coming_ — **_coming,_ ** on and around his fingers, her eyes screwed shut and her jaw on fire as she gnashed her teeth and writhed against him.

 _Stars!_ And she could see them, too, picked out on the dark backdrop of her eyelids: a whole galaxy.

As the undulations of her orgasm dissipated and she opened her eyes, he dislodged his fingers and lifted them to his mouth, sucking her slick off the leather of his gloves like it was the sweetest nectar. She could feel the hard rod of his cock pressing along the small of her back.

 _Revenge_ was her first thought, as she reached behind her, but he caught her wrist and held it away from their bodies. 

Her weight-bearing leg chose that moment to buckle, but as always, Hux was quick to compensate. He used the wall behind them to slide down, taking her along. Rose was sure someone out there, beyond the tiny space they occupied, would have heard the soft brush of his jacket on the smooth pourstone, but the talk droned on.

She ended the journey down on his lap, cradled against him once more, one of his hands on the nape of her neck and the other on her thigh. Her panties were soaked through, and the beautiful red synthsilk was surely next. Rose, determined to take him into her hand, tried to twist her fingers between them, but he stopped her.

“It’ll pass. Unlike you, darling, I have some semblance of self control.” She made a face, and he smirked in return, his gloriously green eyes sparking with amusement in the shadows. “But you’ve won, haven’t you?” The fondness in his voice was unmistakable. “Stubborn little fool.” He skimmed his fingers along her jaw, and they dragged there, still sticky with her juices and his spittle. “Rest now.” Tipped his head back to recline against the wall. “We may have a long wait ahead of us.”

Her breathing was still rough, but she could feel her eyelids drooping already, the exhilaration of her climax coupled with the tense struggle between them exhausting what energy she had left. She could barely feel her ankle now, the rush of blood elsewhere in her body coupled with the shot leaving it pleasantly numb.

She would shut her eyes, just for a moment, and stay silent a little longer.

As she drifted off, as the rhythm of his heartbeat lulled her towards oblivion, she thought she caught a word — no, a name — from the outer room. One she hadn’t heard in a long time, outside of history lessons. She looked up at Hux’s face and could tell he had picked it out, too. His brow furrowed, a deep frown drawing his mouth downwards.

She reached for him, drawing his gaze down to hers, and his frown reversed quick, as if it had never been there. She touched his mouth, tracing along his bottom lip to one corner, where it quirked upward. His eyes were softer than she had ever seen them.

“Rose,” he murmured. “I want—” 

But she was fading fast, and she didn’t hear the rest. 


	2. Chapter 2

Rose came back to herself some time later when Hux shook her arm.

“They’ve gone...it should be safe to leave.”

She was still curled up. He had shifted her so she leaned against the wall instead of his body, but her legs still lay across his lap. “Sorry,” she mumbled as she pulled away. “That can’t have been comfortable. How long was I out?”

“An hour, give or take. But I’ve been in more cramped quarters for longer, believe it or not. With much worse company.”

His good humor, given so freely now, made her wary. He used the crates to pull himself up, then offered her a hand. Steadied her when her legs wobbled, the pain lancing through her ankle.

“Has the bacta numb worn off?”

Rose grimaced. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not as bad as it was.” It was then that she caught sight of the rumpled front of her dress, a milky stain spread right at crotch-height. 

“You ruined it.”

“I’ve ruined it? That was all you, Rose.” There was a faraway look in his eye — already daydreaming about what he had done to her. But when she didn’t laugh at his joke, he had the decency to look chastised. “I’ll buy you another. A better one,” he said. He rubbed a piece of the fabric between his fingers, wrinkling his nose. “Not this synthsilk druk. Real shimmersilk.”

Rose snorted. “What the kriff do I need with a shimmersilk gown?”  _ A dress that costs more than some of the ships the Resistance runs.  _ “Gonna wear it traipsing around the base, dragging it through the mud?”

He seemed confused for a moment, then gave her another of those rare, disarming smiles. “So the next time we meet, little rebel, I can peel you out of it properly.”

Rose could only blink until she shook the sense back into herself, willing her brain to process that statement later. She opened the door a crack. The overhead lights were off, the room empty. “Let’s get out of here.” She took one teetering step towards the door.

“Wait,” he said, pulling her back, his voice barely above a whisper. “Look.”

Rose peered into the shadows and saw a round red eye shining in the dark of the far corner. Security droid, probably an old B4J4, lying in wait. “They knew we were here.”

“They knew  _ someone _ was here,” he corrected. “The servant who opened the closet must have tipped them off.”

“Why isn’t it attacking us?”

“Couldn’t be voice activated or it would accost anything passing in the hallway. There is only one way out of this room, so it must be programmed to detect motion in a specific range.”

The droid didn’t budge when Rose leaned slightly out of the door, waving her hand. “Do you think its blasters are set to stun or kill?”

Hux cocked a brow. “I highly doubt they were worried about a pair of eavesdroppers when the servant told them  _ what _ we were up to. No threat in a pair of libidinous lovers who couldn’t make it to their room. I assume it’s supposed to arrest us for trespassing and remove us to the city jail.”

Rose wrinkled her nose, remembering the holding cell she and Finn had been confined within. “Yeah, I’ve spent a few hours there and don’t care to go back.” When he didn’t immediately offer a retort, she turned and found him staring at her, both eyebrows raised.

“You were  _ in jail  _ the last time you were here?  _ Why _ am I not surprised?”

“Yeah, well,” she mumbled. “Needs must.” That mission had gone off the rails, too, but she didn’t want to think about that right now. “So if we want to avoid getting dragged to detainment, how—?”

He was already reaching into one of the crates, pulling out a boxy object. 

Rose cocked her head. “Mouse droid?” 

“Essentially, yes. I had some time to do some tinkering while you...recovered.” His tone and his choice of words had Rose blushing again. He crouched and set the trapezoidal robot onto the floor.

Rose looked on with trepidation as the little droid beeped and began its advance. Hux was already withdrawing the stolen blaster.

“Stay close.” The lingering look he gave her as he held out his arm, beckoning her to lean into him, made Rose’s stomach flip flop. But she let him gather her against his side. 

The droid wheeled forward haphazardly, zigzagging across the room. 

Suddenly the red eye in the corner blinked and the sentinel stirred to life, letting out a string of squawking droidspeak. Raising its blasters, it pointed them at the mouse droid.

“Quickly now,” Hux pressed, “While it’s distracted.” 

But Rose, limping alongside, was too slow even with him dragging at her. By the time they had crossed halfway the distance to the door, the security droid had communicated with Hux’s distraction, and assessed that it wasn’t a threat. 

With a whir, it turned its blasters on them, emitting another chain of angry beeps and whistles.

It was instinct that drove her to put up her hands, cringing as she set her full weight on her bad ankle. Hux raised his too, blaster and all, but his finger lingered on the trigger.

The maintenance bot moved ever closer to the sentinel, and it dawned on Rose what Hux had planned. 

“Close your eyes,” he whispered, just as the little droid stuttered to a stop and began to squeak in earnest. Mouse droids usually had strong survival instincts built into their core programming, so it impressed Rose that he’d been able to override it in this little fellow. Its hull grew red hot, then white. The B4J4, not the brightest star in the sky, couldn’t seem to decide what to do, dropping one blaster to focus towards the floor, where the mouse droid was melting from the inside out.

_ Poor thing, _ Rose thought, before Hux growled in frustration and yanked her head towards his chest, shielding her eyes. But he was a fraction too late, and she caught the flash as the mouse droid’s core blew, sizzling, and the security droid dropped its second blaster.

Her vision went white then dark in quick succession, but she heard two rapid shots from above. Clinging to Hux, she could smell the ozone, like burnt flesh, in the air. 

As her eyes readjusted, she was able to make out — barely — the two holes he had blasted through the droid, the eye a concave pit of sparking wires, the hull torn asunder to expose the halted mechanical heart.

“Hurry now, little rebel. Someone might have heard that,” he said, tugging her into motion. But she was still blinking, unable to focus or clear her vision, and she stumbled.

“I should hack the display before we leave — I should—” She swayed back toward the center of the room, shaking her head as if she could dislodge the blurriness.

“No time.” Again, he stooped low and scooped her up without any difficulty. This time, though, there was no leisurely stroll. Hux ran down the corridor, and she clung to his neck, her fingers interlaced, brushing against the fine red hair of his nape. A pair of double doors loomed ahead, and he turned and backed through them, shielding her.

He needn’t have worried. On the other side was just another empty corridor, this one leading to a set of stairs.

The stairs opened up onto a dim corner of the hotel lobby. He paused there, setting her on her feet.

“Can you see now, Commander?”

Rose blinked again rapidly. “Yes. Yes, and I need to go back. I need to—”

But Hux was shaking his head. “There’s no need, Rose. I listened to most of their conversation, after you fell asleep. There’s nothing for you to hack. No secrets to glean. Nothing of note, in any case.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“It wasn’t what I thought it was, after all.”

Rose ran her tongue over her teeth, letting out a sound of disgust. Made a pair of fists. “So this entire thing was a wild bantha chase? What was the  _ kriffing _ point of us coming all the way out here, then? All of this was  _ your _ idea! I thought for sure that meant you were confident about the lead, that—”

He looked down at her. Always looking down, but now his gaze contained a measure of annoyance, mixed with sympathy. “You know as well as I do that it was a shot in the dark, like all our other missions. The others, fortunately, happened to pan out. This one didn’t. Still,” he said, and suddenly he was smug again, “I wouldn’t say it was a  _ complete _ waste of time.”

“You...you,” Rose was shaking, and had he not seized her wrists at that moment, she would have launched herself at him like a lothcat, snarling.

“Is everything...all right here?” Another concierge appeared to their right, this one a Twi’lek, her long purple lekku swaying. “Can I be of assistance?”

“Just a little lover’s spat,” Rose snapped, before he could speak. “I’m sorry for the raised voices. We promise we’ll keep it down.”

The Twi’lek seemed suspicious, but relented. “Very good. If you need anything at all, I’ll be right over here.”  _ Watching, _ her tone implied.

As soon as the concierge had drifted out of range, Rose yanked her wrists out of Hux’s grip. He let her, but cupped her elbows instead, preventing her from moving away.

“Commander—” 

Rose huffed and shook him off fully, taking a step back. “And you had the audacity to call  _ me _ ill-equipped? Even if you aren’t particularly forthcoming with the details, you  _ always _ have everything planned out ahead of time… But tonight felt rushed. Poor form for a  _ General _ .” She dug her claws in deeper with the next word, knowing it would piss him off. “ _ Sloppy. _ ”

But Hux didn’t sling barbs back at her. He shuffled his feet.  _ Odd.  _

“Rose…” It wasn’t like him to hesitate to speak his mind, to match her insult for insult. 

“I—I miscalculated.”  _ Or admit he’d made a mistake. _

“I’m sorry that we did not acquire anything of use.“  _ Or apologize.  _

“I wanted…”  _ Or trail off without finishing a sentence.  _

When it became clear he wasn’t going to elaborate further on what, exactly, he wanted, Rose rolled her eyes. “Next time, General, maybe you should vet your sources, or try to verify the importance of the intel _ before _ you drag me away from my _ actual  _ job, doing  _ actual  _ work to undermine the First Order.”

“Next time?” Hux asked, his brow knit in contemplation. “So you are amenable to working with me again?”

All Rose could muster was another “What?” 

“We’ll...continue our work together?”

Inside her head, the half of her brain that was furious was fighting, tooth and nail, the other half — the confused half, the half that had begun, reluctantly, to see him as more than a monster. He waited, regarding her with his sharp gaze, but once again the predatory element within his eyes was tamped down by a softer emotion. Desperation, perhaps.

To Rose, it seemed like he needed the Resistance more than they needed him at this point, and it clearly worried him. Nevermind that, until now, he had offered up the most useful information they’d received in months. One misstep wasn’t enough to sever the relationship completely, but the threat was worth making all the same.

“We’ll see,” she said, as coldly as she could manage. “General Organa may think it unwise to continue this arrangement between you and the Resistance if your leads turn out to be, well...garbage.” 

“I wasn’t talking about the Resistance.” He cleared his throat and adjusted the cuff on one of his gloves. Her eyes flitted right to it, watching as he flexed his hand, the leather creaking. “I was talking about the partnership between you and I.”

Rose had to stop herself from saying  _ what?  _ a third time, not out of ignorance, but because she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her flash of anger had begun to dissipate, and something else — something much more dangerous — was rapidly taking its place. Their encounter in the closet had broken the dam, and the flood would overwhelm her if she wasn’t careful.

_ Get out now, _ her instincts told her.  _ While you still can. Before he says the words you want to hear and you’re lost. _

She regarded the rest of the posh lobby. The front door, leading out onto the shopping concourse, was right there, past the check-in desk. All she had to do was turn away from him and go through it. “If—if there’s nothing left for us to do here, I should get back to my ship.”

Hux paused in the middle of straightening the other glove, frowning. “It’s late, Rose.”

“And?”

“And,” he reasoned, his voice low and his eyes lidded, the long red-blonde lashes laying against his skin. His cheeks were flushed, and it made him seem more alive, somehow. “There is still the matter of the suite upstairs, reserved under a pseudonym for the evening. It would be a shame to let that luxurious bed go to waste, don’t you think?”

_ The things I could do to you, _ his eyes seemed to say, when he finally looked up again and caught her in his piercing gaze.  _ The terrible, wonderful things.  _

Just like that, Rose was drowning, and she didn’t need to think at all. 

When he offered, she placed her small hand in his. 

“Yes,” she said. “I suppose it would.”

_ It’s just one night. It’s just one night, and... _

She didn’t object when he picked her up again and carried her to the turbolift, but she did catch the Twi’lek’s curious stare. Rose gave a little shrug as the doors closed them off from the lobby.  _ We made up. _

She barely registered their surroundings as he brought her into the dim suite. Her world narrowed to the bed onto which he placed her. The coverings were lush beneath her fingers, the pillow a cloud beneath her head.

Hux bent over her feet, pulled the boots off one at a time with care. Her bandaged ankle he held with both hands. “Does it hurt?”

“A little.” 

“Shall I call for the physician?”

She shook her head. It was only a slight ache, paling in comparison to the one building between her legs. 

Rose hummed low in her throat as he ran his hand up her calf, over her knee, just high enough on her leg to grasp the edge of the stocking and pull it down. He did the same on the other, and her core clenched in anticipation when he rested his hand on her inner thigh.

_ Don’t get shy on me now,  _ Rose thought.  _ Touch me like you did before. _

He had other ideas, it seemed.

She tensed as he stood and stepped away to lay his greatcoat over the back of a chair. Then he sat and removed his own boots, all of it done far too slowly for Rose’s heightened impatience. 

_ Is he playing another game? _

So she crawled to the edge of the bed, but before she could move further, he spoke.

“I never dreamed you would let me do that to you. In the closet,” he clarified. The soft light from the fixtures on the wall illuminated half his face and cast a deep shadow on the other side, but the green of his eyes was as jewel-cut brilliant as ever. 

Rose’s lips quirked. “I didn’t think you’d call my bluff.” She looked down at her lap. “I suppose we’re both full of surprises tonight.”

“Mmmhmm. And yet...you were confused that I wanted you. That I  _ do _ want you.” 

It wasn’t a question, but Rose answered anyway. “Yes.”

He let out a low chuckle, rubbed a slow circle at his temple. “I thought…I thought you knew _. _ ” 

Rose laughed before she could stop herself. “You thought I  _ knew _ ? All you do is insult me, Hux! How does that translate to…whatever this is?” She dug her fingers into the coverlet for lack of flesh to sink them in. He had her in his room and yet he wasn’t  _ having  _ her — he was sitting out of reach. Teasing. “You’re infuriating!”

“ _ I’m _ infuriating?” His voice dropped into a menacing hiss. “You have no idea how you vex me, little rebel. So sure of yourself, so  _ free.”  _ When she began to protest, he bulled over her words. “And then you appear here, so lovely in that  _ karking _ dress and expect me to just... _ carry on _ . Like nothing has changed.”

_ Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about this...because I have. In fact, I’ve been able to think of little else since...well, since I saw you in this dress...  _ But it was clear now that his desire for her had existed before this evening, before the synthsilk gown became the tipping point. When  _ had _ his feelings changed? Since their last mission together? Since their first? Or had it been something slowly building since he had touched her chin aboard the  _ Supremacy _ , when she’d bitten him like a wild animal, leaving her mark in more ways than one?

She geared up to snipe back, but didn’t get a chance. He had closed the distance between them, stood before her where she kneeled. 

Hux tipped her chin up. He still had his gloves on, and the touch of the leather on her skin sent a fresh shiver down her spine. “I’ve had my fill of conversation for the moment. Don’t you agree?”

“You were the one who—” she began, but couldn’t finish, because all at once he was coaxing her up onto her knees and kissing her. The first was softer than she expected, slower than she wanted. The second, immediately following, had more heat, and a little tongue, and Rose found herself melting against his mouth, plucking at his belt with uncoordinated fingers.

“So eager now,” he purred when she broke away, panting. 

In response, Rose reached down and, in one (only slightly awkward) motion, pulled the red dress over her head, tossing it to the side. She let him press up against her while she kneeled in her lacy underthings, felt his erection prod against her hip bone.

“Going to exercise some of that legendary self control, General?” Rose challenged, palming his cock through the coarse fabric of his jodhpurs.

“No. I don’t think I will.” Taking hold of her shoulders, he pushed her back onto the bed, slotted a knee between her legs so she couldn’t close them. “I think when it comes to you, Commander, I’ll continue to take what I want.” 

In the scramble to divest themselves of the rest of their clothing, Rose had time to admire his long, lean limbs, his slim torso. Paler still beneath his charcoal grey uniform, he was nearly hairless, and Rose liked the smoothness of his fine skin under her fingers.

“Leave the gloves,” she rasped, when he made to take them off. “Please?” That earned a real grin, and a real laugh that echoed through the bedroom.

At last, with nothing else between them, Hux was still far gentler than Rose had imagined he would be. He kissed her down into the covers, skimming his gloved hands over her curves, trapping her small body with his. 

But she didn’t feel trapped. She felt free.

Finally, too, she had her revenge — his cock, velvet-soft on the surface, but pulsing with warmth, in her fist. He groaned as she thumbed over the head, dragging her nails down the shaft. With her other hand, Rose unfurled herself like a flower, inviting him in. 

Poised to enter her, he hesitated.

“What is it?” she whispered, already rubbing her middle finger over her clit, too desperate for touch that she’d settle for her own. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts? Don’t tell me the big, bad General is afraid of—”

He seized her hips and sank home with a calculated thrust, reducing Rose’s words to a whimper of shock and pleasure, her awareness to the heat of him solidly sheathed within her. 

“You did that on purpose,” she growled as soon as she regained her composure, and his retort was a rumble, from deep in his chest.

“All’s fair, darling.” He began to move, each thrust touching a place deep inside that had always been just out of reach. 

His words were a tease, as always, but in his viridescent eyes there was something that frightened her more than any dangerous mission ever could.

_ They were already at war, so...was this  _ love  _ he was playing at?  _

“Rose—” He was growing uncertain, it seemed, even as he fucked into her with a steady rhythm. “Rose, I shouldn’t—”

“It’s okay,” she said, so she didn’t have to contemplate what the emotion in his eyes meant. Her hands threaded their way back into his fiery hair. “It’s safe. I’m safe. Don’t hold back.  _ Please, _ don’t stop—”

His eyelids fluttered, the skin of his chest and his cheeks pinked in the low light, arms taut with corded muscle. Every part of him straining to be nearer to her, deeper inside her. 

“Armitage,” she whispered, between her own little pangs of pleasure. She liked the sound of his name on her tongue. Rose let herself imagine, for only a moment, what it would be like to whisper it for  _ more _ than one night, before she banished the thought. “It’s okay,” she urged. She was overwhelmed with the desire to do this for him. She was close, but she could climax again later. She could— 

With a choked snarl, he snapped his hips into hers harder and harder until, with one final thrust, he came. Rose clenched around him, tightening her core and her thighs, stroked his neck as he stuttered through the finish, each breath a growl.

Hux rested his forehead against hers, breathing heavy. To Rose’s shock, as his warmth spread within her, the undulations of her own orgasm swelled and broke like a wave against her walls.

For the second time that night, she saw stars where there was no sky to speak of. 

**

The suite, on the top floor of the Canto Casino Hotel, was yet another ridiculous display of opulence. Rose discovered as much in the morning when, in the light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, she snuck from the bedroom to the sitting area and made herself some caf at the immaculate kitchenette. The mugs were real, made of ceramic, not plastene containers that barely passed. And there was an entire menu of delicacies, a tap away on the datapad. She ordered a selection of pastries and arranged herself on the sofa. Fluffy robe fastened up to her chin, toes dug into the Wroadian carpet, she sliced through the hotel’s network, hailing the Resistance’s secure channel. 

It was Kaydel who answered, sighing in relief.

“Kriff, when you didn’t check in, we thought you were dead.”

“Not quite yet.” She sighed. “There were some...complications...and I couldn’t get back to my ship.”

“Fair enough. Nothing ever goes smoothly, does it? Let me patch you through to Leia.”

“Thanks, Kay.”

Some static, then the older woman’s face swam into view. “Rose? Are you all right?”

“Yes, sorry for not responding last night, General. I hurt my ankle...nothing serious, just twisted it. And there was a minor...skirmish.”

_ Is that what they’re calling it these days?  _ Rose had to bite her lip to stop the unwanted smile from creeping onto her face.  _ And then you spent the night in his arms,  _ the little voice in the back of her brain niggled, but she didn’t think Leia needed to know that.

_ One night _ , she reminded herself.  _ And now it’s done, and you can go back to the Resistance, where you belong. _

“I see. Did you manage to gather any intel?”

“I’ll transfer what we found shortly. It’s not much. Probably nothing of use,” she said, trying to soften the blow that they had technically failed. 

“Something is better than nothing, Rose.” 

“Yes.” Rose agreed, which was why, after sex but before she let him sleep, Rose had made Hux recite every little thing he’d overheard from within the closet, and transcribed it. It may have sounded unimportant to  _ him _ , but any of it could still prove useful. They were lucky his memory was like a databank — he recalled, in minute detail, things that Rose never would have remembered. 

“And how was working with the General again?” 

Rose fidgeted with the collar of the robe. “It went...as well as could be expected. I—I really don’t know if I’m the right person to continue this job.” If she could avoid seeing him again, perhaps she could forget that she’d ever let him in.

But Leia was pursing her lips. “You’re going to have to be the right person, Commander. General Hux won’t work with anyone else.” It was the answer Rose had expected, but she let Leia go on. “And even though I’ve suggested — several times, in fact — that I send a different agent, he always refuses. ‘Miss Tico will serve my purposes just fine.’”

Rose’s nose wrinkled, and she blew on the steaming caf. “I’ll bet he did. Still... He seems to be slipping — this mission wasn’t a success...perhaps there’s someone else in the First Order who’d be willing to work with us. Who would be more valuable.” 

“ _ Another _ mole in the First Order? Someone  _ more _ valuable than General Hux? Rose, dear...” Leia was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.

“Forgive me General, but things are getting...muddled...between us. I just think that—”

Leia cleared her throat, and didn’t mince words. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

For a moment, all Rose could do was stare into the cup of caf. Then it came bubbling to the surface —  _ the anger. _ “I am such a kriffing idiot,” she let out in a rush.  _ The regret.  _ “I never should have encouraged—” She hung her head.  _ The loneliness.  _ “I just wanted—” She felt tears begin to well in her eyes. She blinked them back as best she could. Said in a small voice: “I’m so ashamed.”

Leia was frowning, but her eyes were kind. “Did he hurt you? Force you?”

“No. I was...a willing participant.”

“Okay. Then…” She smoothed her hands over the desk in front of her. “Then don’t be ashamed, Rose. If anything, we can use this to our advantage.”

Rose sniffed, set aside the cup. “What do you mean?”

Leia’s expression had morphed into one of indulgence, like a teacher instructing a clueless child. 

“I mean,  _ keep _ sleeping with him, dear. Give him whatever he wants...whatever you’re comfortable with, of course. Keep him enthralled.” 

Rose laughed, a harsh sound that was louder than she intended. “I—you’re joking. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a mechanic. Not a courtesan.” 

Leia smiled. “First of all, you’re an engineering genius, so none of this ‘I’m just a mechanic’ business. And second of all, in spite of — or because of — your lack of seduction skills, you’ve somehow managed to seduce him. From everything I’ve heard, Armitage Hux isn’t someone who ever lets his guard down. And yet there you are, in his confidence, in his room.”  _ In his bed.  _ “Beneath his monstrous deeds, he’s still a man.”  _ As you well know. _ “And men can be manipulated.”

Before Rose could hide her discomfort, Leia let out a gentle chuckle.

“Don’t look so scandalized, dear. We’re at war, after all. All’s—”

“Fair…” she breathed, recalling his words in the heat of their coupling, and how he had looked at her afterward. There had been no mistaking it, after they had both climaxed. He’d held her gaze for a long moment, so intense she’d finally had to look away. So to manipulate him like Leia was suggesting... “I don’t think I can do that,” she admitted, his hungry green eyes so vivid in her mind. “I don’t know if I _ want t _ o do that.”

Leia nodded. “I understand. You’re a good girl, Rose.”

_ No,  _ Rose thought, her mind straying to the things she’d let Hux do to her...and the things she’d done to him with her mouth, after she’d woken in the middle of the night to find him awake, too, and hard again.  _ I’m really not. _

Leia was still talking. “...you can return as soon as you’re able. But don’t rush back. We’ll miss you, of course, but we can spare you for a few days if you need to delay...if your ankle isn’t healed enough to travel.” 

_ Right,  _ she thought.  _ My ankle _ . “It...it should be fine, General. I’ll plan on returning to my ship as soon as I can.”

“Well,” Leia said, shrugging, “You know what they say about plans.” She laughed, but when Rose didn’t respond in kind, the older woman sighed again. “I’m kidding, Rose.”

“Right,” Rose replied, feeling sheepish. “I’ll transfer that data immediately.”

Leia was about to close out the call when the thing they had overheard in the conference room came back to Rose. She debated for a split second whether or not it was worth mentioning, but instinct told her it was.

“Sorry, umm...General, wait!”

“I’m listening, Commander.”

“I—We were eavesdropping on a meeting...weapons manufacturers and buyers, I think...and a name came up. One that struck me as odd.”

“Oh?” Leia settled back in her chair. “Well?”

“Palpatine,” Rose said. “Someone said: ‘If what our source relays is true, the rumors aren’t rumors. Palpatine’s fleet will make the First Order battlecruisers look like a bunch of child’s playthings.’ But that doesn’t make any sense, right?” She shook her head. “I mean, what fleet? The Emperor’s been dead for thirty years...”  _ Hasn’t he? _

Leia’s face had gone white, but she regained her composure quickly. “Was General Hux with you?”

“Yes.”

“And how did he react? To the name.”

Rose glanced towards the bedroom, where he was still asleep, or at least, abed. “He seemed as surprised...and confused...as I was.”

Silence extended for seconds into minutes. She finally had to ask: “Leia?”

The General blinked, as if returning from somewhere far away, and cleared her throat. “Very good, Rose. Please send that data along now.” Leia disconnected, and the link switched back to the other terminal.

Rose did as she was asked. Once she had received an acknowledgement from Kaydel, she set the datapad aside and resumed sipping her caf.

She had to leave, and she had to do it soon. It would take almost eighteen hours to travel back to the Resistance base, and if there was some enormous fleet lurking out in the unknown regions, undetected, Leia would want her and her team on it as soon as possible, even if she’d just told Rose to stay away as long as she wanted.

_ She didn’t mean it. Not really. _

All Rose had to wear was the ruined dress, but she supposed a very public walk of shame back to the shuttles that would take her to her ship was better than trying to slip out of the hotel in a stolen robe. 

Tiptoeing back into the bedroom, she rifled through their discarded clothing while trying to avoid looking at Hux’s prostrate form, only half covered with the sheet. The sunlight glinted off his red hair, softened in sleep, and highlighted long, thin limbs. He looked fragile. Boyish, even.

_ Not weak, though. Never weak.  _ She couldn’t let herself forget that.

Rose thought she had managed to complete her task undetected, skirting around the edge of the bed, crimson synthsilk in hand, when a pale arm struck out from beneath the covers and reeled her in like a floundering fish. Rolled her body over his own and down onto the mattress, until she was lying there beneath him.

“Good morning, Commander,” he purred. “Trying to sneak off?”

“No,” Rose lied, even though she knew he wouldn’t believe her. “Just—hey!”

Hux had tugged the dress out of her grasp and, taking a hunk of fabric in each fist, pulled.  The synthsilk tore in half like flimsi. He took the pieces and threw them back onto the ground.

_ Guess I’m stealing the robe after all. _

“I told you I’ll buy you something better. Not a gown, then,” he offered, when she scowled. “Something practical.”

He loomed above, leaning in for a kiss, but just as Rose relented, was tilting her mouth up to meet his, he pulled away. Confused, she waited for him to make another move, but he only stared down at her. 

“Were you speaking to your precious princess before? I thought I heard her voice.”

“Yeah. I missed the check in.”

“Hmm,” he murmured. “Yes, you would have. And you told her?”

Rose decided to be obtuse. “I passed over the data.”

He smirked. “Come now, Commander. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“I’m not in the mood for games right now.” She squirmed, trying to wriggle her way free, but he shifted his hips between her legs, pinning her to the bed by her wrists. Like his hand around her throat, the pressure he applied was just shy of damaging, and Rose wondered how he could straddle that line between pain and pleasure so easily. 

“Yes,” she admitted, earning another smirk. “I told her. Not about the...the closet. But about last night.”  _ And this morning, _ she thought, if the erection he was pressing along her groin was any indication of upcoming events.

“Good. There’s no need to be coy about it, then.”

“About what, Hux?” she asked. “What  _ is _ this?” She was sure she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from his lips.

“I thought we covered that last night, darling.”

Rose pouted, trying to play the coquette. “I’m still...confused.” 

He sobered immediately, frowning. “Don’t simper, Rose. You’re much too intelligent for that.” He stared down at her and Rose had the urge to lunge up and nip at his mouth. “What do  _ you  _ think this is?”

_ All he does is deflect.  _ “I think you’re bored. Stifled. I think things aren’t going well for you in the First Order, and you’re getting out your frustrations by torturing me.”

“Is this torture?” He leaned in once more, but made contact this time: his lips on hers. Rose hadn’t kissed many people, but his kisses were different from the rest. Methodical. Patient. As if they had all the time in the world.

But as soon as she responded, letting out a little moan against his mouth, he pulled away, and she gritted her teeth.

“You  _ know _ it is. You knew last night and you know now. I don’t want you, I—” 

He cut her off with another kiss, and after putting up the weakest of struggles, she yielded. She felt the pressure let up on one wrist, only to feel his fingers slip between them, between the folds of the robe and the folds of her sex, straight to her clitoris. Rose let out a shaky breath as he slowly circled it, teasing. Lifted her hips to chase the sensation when he removed his fingers.

Hux hummed his approval. “I thought you didn’t want me.”

“I don’t.”

He cocked his head, narrowed his eyes. Calculating. “ _ Liar. _ ” 

He rolled them again, this time so she was on top. He pushed the robe down off her shoulders, baring her breasts, all while beneath her he rubbed his cock along her slit. So deliciously close to entering her, but not quite. 

Rose was wet and she hated herself for it. But he was right: she was lying, to him and to herself.

“Stay another night.” He peered up at her, some of the mischief gone from his green eyes, replaced with the warmth from the night before, when he had held her after her undoing. The same warmth she’d seen when he’d entered her for the first time...when, later, she’d taken him in her mouth. It was becoming more and more difficult to resist when he looked at her like that.

But Rose couldn’t give in that easily, not again, so she floundered for an excuse.

“Would that be wise? They could be looking for us—”

“Hard to find us if we never leave this room. The day’s half gone anyhow. And, as I recall, you have nothing to wear.”

Rose bit her lip, shuddered as he rocked up towards her. “I—I told Leia I’d be back—”

“Rose. You sent them the data. They can get along without you for another twenty-four hours.” He stroked her sides, sending a shiver up her spine. “Stay.”

She tried a different approach. “What about you? Won’t they miss you?”

“No one cares what I do now,” he admitted, and there was the truth, _ finally, _ at least about something. “I informed them I’d be off ship for the entire weekend and not one other officer batted an eye.” 

She tamped down the surge of sympathy at the hurt in his voice. Instead, she imagined him rattling around Canto Bight, looking miserable. “And what did you plan to do for another day if I said no? Wander around the casino? Lose all your money at Hazard Toss?”

He latched on to the words she hadn’t said. “Is that a ‘yes,’ Rose?”

She sighed. “It’s not a ‘no.’” 

So she took hold of his cock and guided it inside her, inhaling sharply as he bottomed out with a groan.

_ One more night, _ she reasoned with herself. _ And then tomorrow it’s done. _

He was blessedly silent for several long moments as she started to rock, his hands on her hips, thumbs rubbing along to her rhythm. She closed her eyes, focused on where they were joined together, how good it felt. 

But eventually, between the little grunts of satisfaction, he spoke. “Care to make...another wager?” 

“Just...just fuck me, Hux. I’m not in a gambling mood either.” 

He was persistent, though. “I’ll bet you I can...make you come...at least five more times...before we conclude this mission…”

“Oh?  _ At least _ five, hmm?” Rose rolled her hips, grinned when he clenched his jaw and muttered a curse. “Seems like I’m doing all the work here, General.” She noted the way his eyes lit up, so she decided to say it a second time, breathless. “Fuck me,  _ General _ .”

“This is the  _ only _ time you’ll ever give me orders, Commander,” he proclaimed, but he was smiling again, like he didn’t mean it. And he obeyed.

  
  


**

True to his word, they never left the room. The new clothes he ordered her were delivered along with breakfast the next morning, in a little metal crate not unlike the one that had brought the synthsilk gown to the Resistance base.

These garments, though, were the best money could buy, made of the best materials, tailored with precision. Everything was grey, but of a half-dozen different hues, from the deep charcoal of the leggings to the gunmetal of the tunic and the silver of the wrap, which was made from the softest wool she’d ever felt.

“Chaughaine,” he remarked, as he sipped his bitter tea and watched her dress. “They say it’s worth every credit.” 

Rose admired herself in the mirror for another moment before she rounded on him. “How? How do these fit so...perfectly?”

His lips twitched. “Do you remember the scan they conducted on our way into the casino? Well, the machine records _ everything  _ about you. I merely hacked in, took your measurements and forwarded them to the best clothier in the city.”

“Seems a bit excessive,” she protested, but inwardly she was pleased. She’d never had clothes this nice... _ ever _ . They made the red synthsilk look like trash in comparison, and she colored at the thought of how excited she’d been to wear it. It had disappeared some time during the night, when the little cleaning droids wheeled around the rooms in lieu of a maid. No doubt it was buried under a bunch of refuse now, where it belonged.

“One more thing,” he said, recapturing her attention, and held something, palm down, for her to take.

The case he placed in her hand wasn’t heavy, but when she cracked it open she couldn’t help but gasp. The brooch inside was silver, wrought in the shape of a rose, dotted with small dark red gemstones that winked in the sunlight.

Rose gawked. “These aren’t...?”

“No.” Hux chuckled. “Nova rubies are too expensive, even for someone with the First Order’s considerable resources at his disposal, I’m afraid. They’re garnets, but of the finest quality.”

“Of course they are.”

“Allow me.” He set aside his tea and took back the box. His fingers fiddled at her collar as he fastened the brooch to the wrap. And then he took advantage of her proximity, pulled her closer, tilting her chin and kissing her for the hundredth time that morning.

_ I could get used to this,  _ she thought.  _ His patient kisses, his arms around me.  _

She broke away, shaking her head. “Don’t ask me to stay again,” she whispered. 

“I won’t.”

But Rose didn’t believe him, because she could feel him growing stiff again. He’d already had her twice that morning, early when they’d risen, and a few hours later in the ‘fresher, cradling her under the hot spray of  _ real  _ water. He’d kept his promise, too — she’d come five times since the previous day, on his cock...on his fingers...on his tongue. “We’re twenty minutes past checkout. They’re going to send someone up to kick us out.” 

He was gunning for orgasm number six, though, determination writ across his features.  _ Overachiever.  _

“What good is being affluent if you can’t constantly bend the rules?” His agile fingers were already hooked in the waistband of the new leggings, his soft lips already on her throat.

It would be so easy to just let him undress her again, to fall back onto that sprawling bed, her black hair spread around her like a dark halo. So easy, and so _ wrong. _

_ Enough, _ her conscience chided. _ You have to leave. There are people counting on you. You’ve dallied here, with him, for long enough. No more of these foolish games, no matter how much you want to keep playing.  _

“I—I can’t stay,” she stuttered, summoning some resolve of her own. To his credit, when she pulled away this time, he let her go. He seemed to sense she’d finally reached her limit.

“Can’t or won’t, Commander?”

Rose bent down and fiddled with the buckle on her boot. Twisting her ankle out there in the courtyard seemed like it happened a lifetime ago. “Does it matter?”

Hux leaned back, crossed his leg. Tapped the arm of the chair. Looked down at the floor. “I think you can discern it matters a great deal to me.” And then he said something she didn’t expect: “I know you still hate me.”

Rose jerked her head up. “What? No, Hux. I find you very...frustrating, and maybe I hate what you’ve done in the past, but you’ve helped us, you’ve made a difference. The Resistance know you’ve put your ass on the line for us, they think—”

“I don’t give a damn about what they think of me!” He spat the words like venom, and her eyes went wide. “I care what _you_ think of me, and I’m telling you, I can still see it, lingering in your eyes. When I kiss you. When I’m inside of you. That little spark of loathing. It grows just a _bit_ dimmer every time, though.” He shifted abruptly, so he was leaning forward, catching her in his stare. “How long would it take to snuff it out completely, Rose? Months? Years? A lifetime?” When she didn’t answer, Hux sighed. “I could, you know. Care for you. _Worship_ you. For as long as it took.” 

_ I know,  _ Rose thought,  _ I know, and that terrifies me. What kind of person am I, if someone like Armitage Hux could be so devoted to me? _

For the first time, her hand traveled not to the Haysian teardrop, tucked safely beneath her tunic, but to the wrought-silver rose at her throat. 

_ A bad one? Or just someone with needs like anyone else, and worthy of being wanted? _

Since Paige had died, no one had really paid much attention to Rose’s needs. For a fleeting moment, she had thought Finn might be that person, the one who would take care of her and the one onto whom she could pour the love she could no longer give her dead sister. Then something had shifted, so quickly it had left her reeling, and the loneliness had loomed again. She thought of the way Hux had picked her up and carried her, without being asked.  _ He’s willing to try. Maybe that’s enough. _

She didn’t realize he had stood, had moved to the door, until he cleared his throat.

“Shall we? Before they send up security to forcibly remove us?” 

The moment for her to respond in kind had passed, and Rose was suddenly full of regret. 

She followed him down to the lobby, waited while he checked out. She didn’t notice the Twi’lek approaching until the other woman tapped her on the shoulder.

“I just wanted to say how much I love your brooch.” And then, she leaned in to whisper: “I’m glad that everything worked out, miss.” Her eyes traveled to where Hux was standing stiffly at the counter. Rose already missed the relaxed demeanor he had displayed in the confines of their room. Out here, under watchful eyes, he was back to business. 

_ It must be exhausting, having to maintain such a rigorous demeanor all the time. _ If nothing else, she had given him a respite from that. 

Rose smiled at the Twi’lek. “Me too.”

“Will you be staying with us again?” The Twi’lek cocked her head.

“It’s hard to say,” Rose said. “My husband’s profession takes us all over.”

“How lucky that you get to travel with him!” The Twi’lek exclaimed. “Well, miss, if you do return, present this card at check in.” She handed Rose a piece of plasto with the hotel’s logo on it. “And ask for Suji. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

“Umm, thanks.” She didn’t know what else to say, so she just tucked the plasto card into her pocket. Suji seemed satisfied, and wandered off into the lobby.

“I leave you alone for two minutes and you’re already making friends? Spreading the Resistance rhetoric to the other rats?” Hux had appeared at her shoulder. He glared down at her, but Rose could tell both his expression and his taunts were half-hearted attempts to return to a state of their relationship she didn’t think they could ever get back.

Everything had shifted, and she knew she didn’t want it to shift back. 

He seemed bewildered when she didn’t respond, when she chose instead to tuck her hand in the crook of his arm and lean against him.

“Will you walk me to the shuttles?”

A few heartbeats passed before his countenance softened, and he nodded. “Of course, Commander.”

The crowd was considerably thinner than it had been two nights before. They almost had the place to themselves. But she knew he wouldn’t risk appearing overly demonstrative in public, so she tugged him to the far side of one of the shuttles, behind the fin.

There, she kissed him softly on each cheek, then once on the lips, pulling away before he could deepen it. “Be careful,  _ husband. _ ” She counted on the return to the playful banter to lift his spirits, and after a moment, he rallied.

“Is that concern I’m hearing in your voice, _ wife?  _ Never thought the day would come.” He rested his forehead against hers, sobering. “I’m always careful, Rose.”

“Good.” Could he see what she was trying to hide, beneath her brave smile? “Until next time, then.”

He brushed his thumb along her jaw to the corner of her mouth, one last touch of the leather glove that quickened her pulse. “Will there be a next time, Commander?”

She made a decision then, one she might regret in the future. But like her choice to go up to the suite with him, in that moment it required no thought. Carefully, gently, she turned her face and took his leather-clad thumb between her teeth. Pressed them together for only a second, before she let go. 

Rose wondered if Leia had foreseen this change of heart.  _ Probably. _ She always did have an uncanny understanding of how people’s minds worked. 

“Yes, Armitage. There will.”

He laughed, clear notes of joy. “Then you have given me hope. Isn’t that what you Resistance bleeding hearts are always prattling on about?” 

He held her hand as she stepped up into the shuttle, but she was the one who refused to let go, even as it lifted a few centimeters from the ground, ready to take off. Instead, she pulled him up by the greatcoat’s collar for one last kiss, and to whisper in his ear one last thing.

“I win again.”

As she settled into her seat and watched his tall figure recede in the distance, Rose wondered how long it would be before Hux suggested their next mission to Leia, and where it would take them. 

_ Well, _ she thought, as she ran the soft wool of the wrap through her hands one more time,  _ at least now I have something appropriate to wear. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annndddd they both catch feelings because I can't seem to write this relationship any other way! The end! 
> 
> Thanks again for reading - hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos always appreciated! ❤
> 
> PS - I drew a smutty pic to correspond with a certain scene in this fic (NSFW!):  
> https://twitter.com/eyanril/status/1343358885474803715


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